Gather at the farm of Jeroen and Rosalinde where the bus came and the cars could stay. Left nicely on time, coffee and a filled cake on the way, and a stop at a roadside restaurant. The mood is soon there.
Check-in at the hotel: one room too few and no family room. The family room turns out to be with the wrong family. With the exchange of some keys and the dragging of suitcases, the problem is solved again.
Everyone change into costume and gather in the lobby. Guide Evelyn from the Darmstadt Exchange Committee is already waiting for us there. She has an envelope with tram cards with her: 6 5-person cards. And also for everyone a green bag with all kinds of things. We take it to the rooms, but it also turns out to contain the coins for eating and drinking: 20 eur pp.! What a warm welcome!
We're on our way. Not by tram but we are going to walk because we are already late. We have to be in the Schloss at 5am and there is no soundcheck. Arriving at the Schloss, there are still enough seats for the public, but the SD prefer to stand. The orchestra sets up their stuff and does a soundcheck.
At 6 o'clock the official opening begins. There are endless speeches, but we have to go after the Lady of the University. Thankfully, it is quite concise. The stage is too small for all the dancers and yet everyone continues. We do 2 dances: the ice Polka and The Mill. At the ice polka, everyone is in the wrong direction, and we start Clockwise. The skating in 4 numbers still succeeds but then it goes wrong. The scene is so full that it is hardly noticeable. Then 2 mills, 1 of which completely falls apart. Oops. Then Jeanette hands over to Wolfgang Kóhler, the chairman of the Heinerfest, our gift and thanks him warmly for the invitation.
There are still a lot of long speeches, but at half past eight we go under the guidance of the guide through the gate of the Schloss to the Fair, where we find a place on a beer terrace and can get sandwiches currywurst or hamburgers at 2 eateries. The beer flows abundantly, a number of people go into the float and there is dancing with the band. We walk back to the hotel in small groups.
The next morning, a city walk through the center is on the program. With the exception of Elsbeth and Henk, everyone goes along. Guide Evelyn now speaks English but is not very well understood. We do find the Alkmaar plaque in the street. The place where we have to perform in the afternoon is also visited: the square near the stalls of the exchange cities. Lunch will be served at the fairgrounds.
Change clothes and go to town, walking again. The stage has professional sound engineers and the orchestra can install itself. The dancing is going well now and both performances are going well. The children dance along with all 4 and it looks very nice. The Square is full and the public is having a good time. To our surprise, 4 old acquaintances show up. Jan and Annie and Johan and Marjo, members who no longer actively dance, come to visit us, and have already spent half a week in Germany with each other. Very pleasant.
After 2 well-received performances, the dilemma is: stay and eat first, in costume, or go to the hotel, change clothes, and back to the party grounds. There is also a football match on tv, so it is after 8 and when everyone shows up again at the party area. We eat again on the beer terrace. The beer garden remains a bit empty, but the other Square is very cozy. There is a band playing nice music on yellow hoodies. Our bass player also plays air guitar.
The next morning, another city walk. A young lady comes to pick us up and we take the tram to the center. From there we walk to the Mathildehöhe. Guide Liz leads us around and shows us another house inside. In the restaurant there is reserved for the whole group for lunch. All arranged again. We order something tasty and sit comfortably at a very long row of tables. Before noon, showers are predicted so a number of people start walking, the rest stay and come later. Once again change into our costumes and once again go to the square to perform for the last time. It's even busier than yesterday and the audience loves it.
The old-timers are back! We thank the guides with a gift, have a snack at the fair and go back to the hotel because of the football match NL-Turkey.
The people of the hotel are prepared and feel like it. Bram makes a pot and we all put it in. In the afternoon the orchestra studied Snollebollekes with left and right, and the Wilhelmus. We get a few rounds of schnapps, green and tasting like mouthwash. Henk is also completely in his element and provides the company with appropriate music, including the van. It will. It was still very cozy at the hotel the Darmstadt.
On Sunday we have breakfast for the last time in the hotel. We look back on a great stay with fun performances. Also very special was that there were 5 children with it. This has never happened before in the 75-year history of The Fencer dancers. The 4 youngest danced and Merel played in the orchestra. How nice is that!
Driver Stephan takes the tram to pick up the bus, which is located some distance outside the center. Within fifteen minutes all the luggage, and that's quite a lot with all those costumes, top hats and musical instruments, is back in it and we go on the return trip again. On the way we do a Musical bingo. Almost everyone has a price at the same time. No final dinner in the Netherlands, but a lunch in the last part of Germany, on the Rhine. We pick a restaurant online, choose 5 dishes from the menu and let everyone make their choice. The driver called another restaurant. Let's start again. Reijer calls this other restaurant for their menu, because it is not online. It turns out to be a pizzeria, but luckily they also have schnitzel and currywurst. Everyone makes a choice already on the bus and passes the number to the service. The food is delicious and afterwards it turns out to have been small prices. A great place to end a very pleasant weekend with all of you. The driver receives a gift with a stuffed lump and he delivers us safely to Jeroen and Rosalinde's yard around 6 am. Unfortunately, it is already over. It was a wonderful weekend. We are very grateful to the Heinerfest Committee and the Alkmaars Exchange Committee for this invitation!
English (UK)